Princes Park Special: Winning was the icing on the cake - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

Proud Dartford manager Tony Burman hailed yesterday’s homecoming as a “fantastic” day for the club, writes Stephen McCartney.

A capacity crowd of 4,097 witnessed an entertaining 4-2 victory over plucky Horsham YMCA as the Darts opened their all-covered, stunning £6.5m new Princes Park home in style.

Cllr Jeremy Kite, the leader of Dartford Borough Council, takes the plaudits for fulfilling his promise - bringing this special club back to where it belongs - in Dartford.

Fourteen years playing away from it’s heart, the expectant Dartford public welcomed the Darts back into their hearts.

Some were watching the team for the very first time, some watched their first game for many years, and the loyal bunch of fantastic fans, who have supported their club and along with fantastic club officials, kept it alive during some very dark days.

The fans that stuck by the club, travelling to various venues, and club officials that had to dig deep into their pockets over the years to pay bills and when the club didn’t have enough funds to even pay their players, deserve a celebratory drink or two.

Brendon Cass will now go into Dartford Football Club folklore, scoring the first ever goal at Princes Park after just ten minutes and 27 seconds.

The former Tonbridge Angels and Chatham Town striker netted two goals on homecoming day, taking his tally for the season to fifteen.

A screamer from Eddie McClements, curling a 35-yard shot into the top far corner dazzled the crowd and Dartford born midfielder, substitute Nick Barnes netted the fourth with a looping, deflected effort from 25-yards.

Horsham YMCA, with former Dartford manager Tommy Sampson, barking out instructions from the visitors technical area, did not read the script, with Matt Ottley and Steve Davies heading home two Andy Ottley corners.

But the Sussex side, who were thumped 6-0 in the FA Trophy in front of “just” 235 at Thurrock’s Ship Lane ground in October, were not going to spoil the party.

“From the moment we got on the coach around the town centre to the ground to when I left the ground at 10pm, it was a fantastic day all round,” Burman told www.kentishfootball.co.uk today.

“I’m taking it all in what happened yesterday, and it’s a fantastic day for the club.”

But the club only just got it’s safety certificate at ten minutes to eight on Friday night.

“After a lot of hard work and not having the safety certificate until 8pm Friday evening, the whole day was fantastic,” said Burman.

“Obviously the pressure was on to try to win the game and getting three points was the icing on the cake really.”

Co-Chairman Dave Skinner, meanwhile, is only just recovering after yesterday’s events.

He has spent this morning sweeping up the terraces and taking the playing kit to the laundrette and enjoying a drink with fellow chairman Steve Irving in their new surroundings.

“All the feedback I was getting everything was right for the day,” said Mr Skinner.

Mr Skinner, who has also been appointed safety officer, explained first-day issues such as gloomy floodlighting and catering will be resolved.

He said: “The contractors are going to come back and re adjust the floodlights which will give them an even spread across the pitch.

“People have to remember that we only took over the control of the stadium at ten to eight on Friday night so preparation time was very limited.

“What people have got to remember is we’ve gone from nothing to 4,100. It was straight in at the deep end - we had no time to prepare.

“We spent the whole week trying to get all the systems up and running so the fire safety could sign the fire certificates off.

“I had lots of doubts every time something went wrong but we managed to get it right at the last minute.”

With the Darts playing their usual brand of free-flowing attacking football, with wingers Dave Martin and Ryan Hayes instrumental, Mr Skinner was pleased that his club won on the big stage.

“That was the icing on the cake,” he said. “Getting the right result, a good entertaining game and six goals for the crowd, which haven’t seen this or any Dartford team play.

“People who are used to watching Premiership football were surprised at how good the standard was.”

The sixteen man Dartford squad were wearing a “homecoming” shirt and these will be auctioned off at Christmas time and each shirt will be signed by the player that wore the shirt yesterday.

Money raised from the special edition shirts, which will be auctioned off,  will go back into club funds.

Boreham Wood visit Princes Park on Tuesday night in the fourth round of the Westview (Ryman League) Cup and Mr Skinner is expecting a crowd of 600 for their second game at Princes Park.

But Kent football fans can increase that figure if they decide to take their first look of the new stadium as hundreds were not able to get their hands on opening day tickets.

Dartford will be without Nick Barnes and Lew Watts who are both cup-tied but boss Burman admitted he would rather have a training session than a cup match on Tuesday night.

He said: “Boreham Wood were a strong side when we played them last year, had a great FA Trophy run and to be fair I could do without a fixture this week.”

Darts have been knocked out of the FA Trophy and Kent Senior Cup in the last seven days, and Burman feels cup games should be spread all over the football season.

He said: “Nevertheless Boreham Wood are a good side and we will have a tough game as they are in a higher league.

“We’ve been knocked out of the FA Trophy and Kent Senior Cup and it’s another cup game within seven days and I think we could do with the cup competitions being spread apart really.

“You could be in cup competitions and within seven days you could have nothing to look forward to. I could do with a training session Tuesday.”

* Fans can pay at the turnstiles for this game.

Visit Dartford's websites:  www.dartfordfc.co.uk & www.dartfordfootballclub.co.uk

Dartford v Boreham Wood
Westview Cup Fourth Round
Tuesday 14^th November 2006
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT